Even the most successful and painless mouth surgery, e.g., tooth extractions, implants, bone grafts, hard tissue surgery, soft tissue surgery, gum surgery, and so forth, can be followed by days or weeks of discomfort for patients recovering from that surgery. Historically, patients are provided with a pain killer and some gauze pads and sent on their way to deal with their recovery. Between 5 and 8 percent of patients become afflicted with alveolar osteitis, i.e., “dry socket”, and between 8 and 15 percent of patients develop a mild infection requiring another visit to the dentist's office. The problem centers around the need for continued oral hygiene, e.g., brushing and flossing one's teeth, in a post-surgical condition. Indeed, continued good oral hygiene decreases bacteria in the mouth, aiding the overall healing process and reduces the potential chances of swelling. In contrast, infrequent or no oral hygiene at all increases the likelihood of post-surgery infections. However, even when performing daily oral hygiene properly and carefully, contacting an area recently subjected to surgery or an extraction can be excruciatingly painful, if the toothbrush bristles or the toothbrush handle make contact with the area, which, as a result, reduces the chances the patient will keep up with hygiene following mouth surgery.
Consequently, there is a need for an oral device that acts as a barrier to protect the site of an implant, extraction, bone graft, and the like. More specifically, there is a need for such an oral barrier device that avoids inadvertent contact with the site during oral hygiene activity, e.g., brushing and flossing one's teeth.